The following example demonstrates how one may copy an existing figure onto a new figure as a subplot:
%%Create dummy figures for demonstration and save them in current folder
% The first figure does not contain a legend
f = figure;
surf(peaks)
hgsave(f,'one.fig')
close(f)
% The second figure contains a legeng and requires slightly different
% treatment
f = figure;
t = 0:pi/50:10*pi;
plot(t, sin(t));
legend(gca, 'sinx')
hgsave(f,'two.fig')
close(f)
%%New figure
f = figure;
a1 = subplot(2,1,1);
a2 = subplot(2,1,2);
%%Copy first existing figure on first subplot
% Open exiting figure
f_c = openfig('one.fig');
% Identify axes to be copied
axes_to_be_copied = findobj(f_c,'type','axes');
% Identify the children of this axes
chilred_to_be_copied = get(axes_to_be_copied,'children');
% Identify orientation of the axes
[az,el] = view;
% Copy the children of the axes
copyobj(chilred_to_be_copied,a1);
% Set the limits and orientation of the subplot as the original figure
set(a1,'Xlim',get(axes_to_be_copied,'XLim'))
set(a1,'Ylim',get(axes_to_be_copied,'YLim'))
set(a1,'Zlim',get(axes_to_be_copied,'ZLim'))
view(a1,[az,el])
% One may set other properties such as labels, ticks etc. using the same
% idea
% Close the figure
close(f_c);
%%Copy second existing figure on second subplot
% This figure contains a legend whose type is 'axes' hence it would require
% special treatment
% Open exiting figure
f_c = openfig('two.fig');
% Identify axes to be copied
axes_to_be_copied = findobj(f_c,'type','axes', '-not', 'tag', 'legend');
% Identify the Legend
legend_to_be_copied = findobj(f_c,'type','axes', 'tag', 'legend');
% Identify the children of this axes
chilred_to_be_copied = get(axes_to_be_copied,'children');
% Identify orientation of the axes
[az,el] = view;
% Copy the children of the axes
copyobj(chilred_to_be_copied,a2);
% If there is a legend
if isfloat(legend_to_be_copied)
copyobj(legend_to_be_copied, f);
end
% Set the limits and orientation of the subplot as the original figure
set(a2,'Xlim',get(axes_to_be_copied,'XLim'))
set(a2,'Ylim',get(axes_to_be_copied,'YLim'))
set(a2,'Zlim',get(axes_to_be_copied,'ZLim'))
view(a2,[az,el])
% One may set other properties such as labels, ticks etc. using the same
% idea
% Close the figure
close(f_c);
